(re)Learning to Fly

For me, the hardest thing about learning how to type properly was unlearning how I used to type. I began typing in 1980 when we got our first computer. My original technique involved poking at keys one at a time starting with only a single finger, and quickly graduated to two and then four before eventually unleashing all of my digits on the machine’s expensive keyboard. It wasn’t until I took a computer class my senior year that I heard that phrase so common in today’s online society: despite being able to deliver 90-100 words per minute, I was told… (read more)

RobOHara

Star Wednesday: Original Soundtrack 8-Track

I don’t remember when or where I got this 8-Track. In a way, it seems like I’ve always had it, and yet I’ve never listened to it. I’ve never owned an 8-Track player — I was raised on vinyl, followed by cassettes. I don’t even know if this 8-Track tape actually works. The tape contains the original soundtrack, as composed and conducted by John Williams as performed by the London Symphony Orchestra (I read the label). The tape is a “twin pack.” I originally thought this meant that the original package contained two packs, but from what I now understand,… (read more)

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A Gloomy Outcast

More than the average person, I think about what will happen to my stuff after I die. Not the mundane everyday stuff I own like clothes or furniture, but the stuff I really care about — like, the stuff I had sentimental attachments to when I was alive. For example, in my backpack right now I have a “Bend ‘Em” Darth Vader action figure. New, it cost only a couple of bucks. It’s been on every flight I’ve been on over the past 20 years. It means the world to me. When I die, best case scenario, it’ll end up… (read more)

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Server Crash and Restore

After trick-or-treating with the kids Saturday night, I turned on the television and attempted to stream some Halloween specials for the kids to watch (Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror specials, Scooby-Doo and the Headless Horseman of Halloween, Disney’s Halloween Treat — you know, the classics). But my server wasn’t responding, so I walked upstairs to investigate and found the machine in an unresponsive state. It had most certainly been tricked; there would be no treat for me. I rebooted the server and was greeted by a screen asking me what default language I preferred. Any time you turn on your computer… (read more)

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Star Wednesday: Lando Calrissian and Racism

For a couple of reasons, I decided this week for Star Wednesday I would write about my 12″ Lando Calrissian figure. In 1978, Kenner released a super-sized line of Star Wars figures. It’s referred to as the 12″ line, even though many/most of them are a couple of inches taller than that. In all, 12 figures were released: ten from Star Wars (R2-D2 and C-3P0, Ben Kenobi, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Jawa, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Stormtrooper) and two from the Empire Strikes Back (Boba Fett and IG-88). For the record, I owned five of them as a… (read more)

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Teaching Cows (and Yourself) to Jump Hurdles

All of us have things to do, and most of us have reasons why we are not doing them. A year or two ago I decided to start walking for exercise each morning. But before I began, I decided I needed a new pair of walking shoes. If only I had a new pair of walking shoes — $100 walking shoes — I knew I would start walking. After buying the shoes, I decided I needed socks. Yes, I most definitely needed thicker socks with more advanced walking technology embedded in them somehow to help me walk. After the socks… (read more)

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Whirlwind Trip to Denver

A few months ago, Susan reserved a vacation cabin in Granby, Colorado for the kids’ Fall Break. Little did she know back then that she would be spending the week before Fall Break in Denver and the week after Fall Break in Washington D.C., both for work. Determined to give the kids the vacation she promised them, this meant after spending a full week in Denver, Susan had to travel home, turn around, and head back three days later along with the rest of us in the car. My best buddy Jeff and his family moved to Denver a few… (read more)

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Star Wednesday: 5″ AT-AT

Along with the Death Star and the Millennium Falcon, Kenner’s Imperial Walker (also known as an All Terrain Armored Transport or, more simply, an AT-AT) was one of the largest toys released in the vintage line. According to Star Wars lore, AT-ATs were approximately 65′ long and 75′ tall, large enough to hold multiple smaller ships or up to 40 additional soldiers inside their massive hull. Kenner’s version was slightly smaller than that — it measured 17.5″ tall and 22″ long. The one pictured here is significantly smaller than that. I paid a quarter for this AT-AT four or five… (read more)

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You’re Doing Fine, Oklahoma

Over the weekend Susan and I took the kids to the Skating Dead Mashup, a Roller Derby contest hosted by the Oklahoma Victory Dolls at Skate Fever in Tuttle, Oklahoma. I was fifteen years old when I began making plans to escape Oklahoma. My first dream destination was California, home to everything I loved at the time: silicon valley, sports cars, skateboarding, Hollywood, MTV, and (I wish they all could be) California girls. I had no real understanding of property value at that time. I just knew that California was cool, cooler than Oklahoma could ever be. A year later… (read more)

RobOHara

Things That Aren’t LEGO

Recently I spent a few days sorting my giant tub of LEGO bricks by color into smaller containers. During this process I ran across several things that weren’t actually LEGO. Here are three of those things, along with a bonus photo at the end. 01. EDUCATIONAL BUILDING BRICKS One of the first things I found mixed in with my LEGO bricks which was not a LEGO was this big, plastic block. It took me a while to find the name of these building bricks on Google, which turned out to literally be “Building Bricks.” I can’t remember if I had… (read more)

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